A STORM IS BREWING | PERCY JACKSON

Chapter Nine

It was midnight, the city streets were as bright as ever, the lights of New York casting an ethereal glow over everything. Percy was swinging around his neighborhood, trying on the new suit Tony Stark had given him. Even though he was supposed to be on the lookout for crime, he barely noticed any of it. He was content to take in the noises of the city as he flew by.

A voice in his ear scared him out of his reverie. Percy landed roughly on the roof of a building near his apartment before he registered who the voice belonged to and what they said.

"Enjoying yourself?" Stark asked, through what Percy assumed to be coms linked into his suit. It was either that or he was going crazy, which was just as likely.

"Mr. Stark! Hey!"

"Hey, Underoos. How are you doing?"

"Oh, I-I'm doing great Mr. Stark. Thank you so much for the new suit by the way. I love it," Percy exclaimed.

"Yeah, about the suit..." Stark started.

"You're not going to take it away, are you?" Peter asked, panicked. Despite only having the suit for a couple of days, he was very attached to it. 

"No, kid. I'm not going to take the suit. But with that suit, comes a lot of responsibility. I have a friend, Happy, he's going to be your point man on all of this," Stark told him seriously.

Peter nodded his head before realizing the older man couldn't see him. Probably. There was always a possibility that Stark was watching him, especially considering all of the technology he had at his fingertips.   

"Yeah, I understand."

"When you're in that suit," Stark started, "don't do anything I would do. And don't do anything I wouldn't do. There's a little gray area in there. That's where you operate."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. Stark's advice was absolute nonsense, but Percy tried to follow along anyway. Peter's eyes widened as he realized a possible implication of having the suit. "Does that mean I'm an Avenger?"

"No," Stark deadpanned.

"However, if you're up for it, you can be on standby in case we ever need you," Stark suggested.

"Yeah! That, that would be awesome," Percy exclaimed. If was able to work with the Avengers then he could help more people, which would make her proud. 

"Yeah, someone will call you. I've got to go now, so we'll be in touch," Stark said hurriedly. Percy could tell the comms had been disconnected but he didn't really care.

"They're going to call me," Peter muttered to himself as a large grin spread across his face. He started his short journey home, thinking of his cousins' reactions when he told them what had happened.

***

It was two months later and Peter hadn't heard anything from Stark or the man named Happy. He had tried to initiate contact repeatedly, but none of his texts were answered. He was on the train with his cousins, who were talking quietly to each other while glancing his way every few seconds. Percy didn't doubt that they were talking about him but he was too distracted to take out his earbuds and actually listen to their conversation.

The trio made their way into the school building. Nico and Thalia had run ahead and were waiting for him by the door. Peter just made it out of the way of a silver car trying to run him over, driven by none other than Flash Thompson himself. Flash called out a crude insult as he sped by, laughing at his own immature joke. Percy just rolled his eyes and made his way to his cousins.

"I wish you would let me summon a couple of skeletons to deal with him," Nico said, the announcements about homecoming drowned out by his grumbling. 

"Or at least let me drop him off with the Hunters," Thalia complained. "It would be so nice to see him turned into a jackalope."

Percy chuckled at their antics, "He's just a mortal bully. Nothing I haven't dealt with before. Now you should head to class. Aunt May will kill you if you're late, again."

"Yeah, yeah, we're going," Nico waved him off and he walked away with Thalia, who was flipping him off with her back turned.

Peter made his way through the hallways to his locker. He was in the middle of putting his supplies away when a voice started speaking in his ear.

"Join me, and we can build my new LEGO Death Star," Ned whispered in a gravelly voice, trying to imitate the Sith Lord. 

"So lame," a cheerleader to their right commented.

Peter didn't really care, he was more excited than anything. He exclaimed, "No way, that's awesome. How many pieces?"

"Three thousand eight hundred and three. You want to build it tonight?"

Peter groaned, "No man, I can't tonight. I've got the Stark-"

"Stark Internship," Ned finished for him. "You've always got that internship."

"Yeah, but maybe it'll lead to a real job with them," Peter explained.

The two continued to talk about the internship as they walked to class. Peter slowed to a stop and Ned's words filtered through his brain in a haze. His gaze had settled on Liz, the only girl who had attracted his attention since her. However, the majority of the reason he liked Liz was that she painfully reminded him of An- her.  Liz was smart (she was the captain of the decathlon team), and kind, and just different enough from her that he didn't feel physically sick when he gazed at her. 

Peter shook himself out of his reverie. He had to get to class, he couldn't waste time daydreaming about girls.

I was originally planning on making this chapter longer but I knew if I did that then I wouldn't update for at least another week or so. I haven't found much time for writing. School is crazy this time of year with extracurriculars coming to a close and tests. I just recently missed two days of school so I could participate in an overnight field for one of the said extracurriculars. Now, I have a crap ton of make-up work to do that I am enjoying procrastinating on. Plus, next week I have a Spanish final that is worth 50% of my grade that everyone in my class thinks we are going to fail. 

Sorry, you had to listen to me rant. Hopefully, the next chapter will be out during my spring break in two weeks. Please vote and comment. I love hearing your feedback. 

<3 S